Studying CFA books

Hi guys, this is my first time on this forum…Its so fab!!! Okay so I studying Equity, the CFA book, and I was wondering if anyone has actually been through this book cos its HUGE!!! The size alone really puts me off… Has anyone completed this and if yes, please how did u do it? Thanks in advance!

Hey yeniola…i am having the same issues… The books are really overwhelming, but i have set a goal to read at least 40 pages a day. I figure by the time Jan comes around, i can start doing problems and reading schweser.

I have finished the equity valuation book. For me, it is the most interesting topic, but I still had to put myself on a strict schedule to finish it. I figured that I wanted it finished by the end of October, so I set up a schedule for how many pages I had to go through each day (including every practice problem). It took some discipline, but was well worth it. I still have to go through volume 1, which I believe is going to be more difficult than Equity. Just keep plugging away at it and you will be surprised how much you have completed!

Thanks so much guys. I am going to just have to try so much harder. God help me.

google the word: “schweser” this is your solution

cdawg12, you mentioned you read 40 pages/day, I am just curious how many hours did you spend per day to do that? With a full time job, I think it is quite hard to study 40 pages / day… but perhaps it’s my problem that I read extremely slow.

hey masked jacqueline…yeah it is really tough, but i also have a full time job. Once i’m done at 5, i either head out to starbucks or just stay at work. For 40 pages, its been taking between 1.5-2 hours (depending on the subject matter). Then once you get to the weekends, you can certainly get more time in. I agree, the CFA curriculum is a slow read (for me at least, as well), but if you want this, then you just gotta put your mind to it and do it. I failed last june, and didn’t read the cfa books, so i’m intent in at least getting thru them at least once now. I think its essential to set some sort of plan for your studying; if you don’t then it’s really easy to get off track and get behind. Start now, and you’re ahead of the curve.

Crikey that’d be nice to finish at 5 every day. hey, just a thought… is there anyone else out there who is (or has) simultaneously taken on a master’s degree, full time work and cfa? i reckon it’s do-able but i’m starting to freak out a little.

if you want to get a benefit out of reading the equity book, it will take a solid 4 hours of non interrupted reading and practice qs on top after the reading. i read the equity book last year and was overwhelmed, it took me 7 + hours for those DDM, FCFF, and multiple readings especially

My “trick” right now is to watch the Schweser Video (last year’s) and then open the book and quickly go through the readings. Fortunelately, it’s very similar. Consequently I do some questions and try and understand the answers. Having done that I move on to the next one… quick and dirty but I intend to fill in the blanks after I’ve covered the whole thing this way by using mock exams. They should tell me what part of the curriculum to go into deeper than I have.

Do ethics the first and last month. Do the stuff you don’t understand first. Learn it. Make sure you get the math stuff down pat, everything thing else will be easier. Last year I spent a month and a half on pensions and then threw down and walked away. This year I am doing it this way. It worked for level one and I am hoping it works for level 2